folk

but seriously, folks

A statement meant to draw an audience's attention to a point one wishes to make (which may or may not be serious in nature), often used as a segue after a joke, aside, or something that is non-relevant. I just flew in from Miami, and boy are my arms tired! But seriously, folks, how is everyone tonight?I like a good cheeseburger as much as the next guy, but seriously, folks, does anyone really need one that weighs three pounds?

folk devil

Someone or something that is feared because it is seen as a danger to, or a bad influence on, society. Ever since news of the mayor's cheating scandal broke, he has become the town's folk devil.Now that they think we're a part of a radical group, they are trying to run us out of town like a couple of folk devils!

there's nowt so queer as folk

There's nothing as strange as people. This phrase is typically used to emphasize someone's particularly odd behavior. ("Nowt" is a Northern English variation on "naught.") Primarily heard in UK. Whenever someone does something really bizarre, I remind myself that there's nowt so queer as folk.

dab on them folks

An imperative to celebrate, boast, or show one's superiority by performing the dab, a gesture or dance move in which one nods the head while covering the face with one arm bent at the elbow and the other arm held parallel and outstretched. Dab on them folks out there today! Nobody's stopping you!

different strokes (for different folks)

Different strokes for different folks.

Prov. Different people like different things.; Different people live in different ways. My neighbor spends all his free time working in his garden. I would never want to do that, but different strokes for different folks.

(home) folks

Idle people have the least leisure.

and Idle folk have the least leisure.

Prov. If you are not energetic and hardworking, you will never have any free time, since you will have to spend all your time finishing your work. My grandmother always told me not to dawdle, since idle people have the least leisure.

just folks

no accounting for tastes, there's

Individual likes and dislikes defy explanation, as in They painted their house purple-there's really no accounting for tastes. This expression, first put as no disputing about tastes, dates from the mid-1600s; the present wording was first recorded in 1794. A mid-20th-century synonym that originated in the American South is different strokes for different folks. For a far older synonym, see one man's meat.

different strokes for different folks

You say different strokes for different folks to mean that people are all different and have different needs and desires. The federal government has, by tradition, been respectful of local standards in local communities — different strokes for different folks, as they say.

So forth they started in the bright sunlight, from Nottingham Town to Fosse Way and thence to Watling Street; and so they journeyed for two days, until they saw at last the spires and towers of great London Town; and many folks stopped, as they journeyed along, and gazed at the show they made riding along the highways with their flashing armor and gay plumes and trappings.

Then the archers stepped forth to their places, while all the folks shouted with a mighty voice, each man calling upon his favorite yeoman.

Ay, you may well wonder and think it odd you never heard of this before; but wonder or not, as you please, there are hundreds of such things lying about England, which wiser folk than you know nothing of, and care nothing for.

I began to see as all this weighing and sifting what this text means and that text means, and whether folks are saved all by God's grace, or whether there goes an ounce o' their own will to't, was no part o' real religion at all.

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